>> god love you. come back every day in 2016. >> i have to go caitlyn jenner, then. >> a pleasure to have all of you with us. thank you all and happy new year. >> happy new year. >> thanks to all of you for watching msnbc live. i'm erica hill. "hardball" starts right now. bill cosby charged. this is "hardball." good evening i'm joy reid in for chris matthews. an incredible scene unfolded where television legend bill cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault against a woman. the charges stem from an incident that allegedly happened 12 years ago. unsteady at times cosby walked into a courtroom where he was

arraigned. he was released on $1 million bail after being fingerprinted and photographed. authorities released his mug shot this afternoon. earlier today prosecutor kevin steele laid out the charge. >> the evidence shows mr. cosby established a relationship with the victim after meeting her through her work associated with temple university's women's basketball program. through the course of their association the victim came to consider mr. cosby her mentor and friend. on the evening in question mr. cosby urged her to take pills that he provided to her and to drink wine. the effect of which rendered her unable to move, respond to his advances and he committed aggravated indecent assault upon her. >> in the past year dozens of women have come forward to publically accuse the 78 year old of sexual misconduct.

prior to today he has never been charged with a crime. the statute of limitations on the current case nearly ran out before today's surprise announcement. this afternoon lawyers for cosby said in a statement the charge by the montgomery county district attorney's office came as no surprise, filed 12 years after the alleged incident and on the heels of a hotly contested election for this county's d.a. during which this case was made the focal point. we expect that mr. cosby will be exonerated by a court of law. stephanie gosk is with us. >> reporter: we are standing outside of bill cosby's home right now. after he posted his $1 million bond he came right back here. this is also the scene of the alleged crime. as you mentioned this is a crime that took place over a decade ago in 2004.

it was an employee at temple university who says she came here to bill cosby's house at night and the prosecutor says she was coming for career advice when she was assaulted allegedly by bill cosby. at the time according to the affidavit she went home to her home in canada, reflected on what had happened and decided that she was going to file a criminal complaint. the prosecutor at the time investigated that complaint and decided not to press charges. she went forward with a civil suit and in the course of that civil suit she revealed another 13 alleged victims. if you fast forward a bit to the last year and a half or so where we have seen a flurry of activity where victims accusing bill cosby of very similar types of assault, the prosecutor here said that it was in the process of that and a decision by a

federal judge to reveal part of cosby's deposition from the 2006 civil suit that propelled them to go forward and press these charges today. a bit of a surprise coming during a holiday week. it was an unbelievable scene at the courthouse. cosby coming out in a tiny place. he was walking gingerly. his demeanor was sort of listless actually. he didn't say anything and then he came right back here home. >> thank you very much. in the past year more than 50 women have made accusations of sexual misconduct against bill cosby. this summer new york magazine put a number of accusers on the cover. kate snow interviewed 27 of them in a special date line. the women made a variety of allegations fraumharassment to rape. >> how many of you believe you were drugged by bill cosby?

how many you believe bill cosby raped you? >> whatever i was given, it was laced in my drink. it was like being like having a lobotomy. >> what are you doing? stop it. he's like i'm not going to hurt you. just calm down. >> i took really no more than two or three sips of it and i really lost consciousness. i was in a bed. he was next to me. he didn't have anything on. >> he said drink it and quickly the room started spinning. the next memory i'm on the floor on the carpet and i remember the sensation of the carpet against the flesh of my back like this and i couldn't move because of the drugs. i remember him on top of me. >> it's important to note these are just allegations. bill cosby has denied them all and brought defamation claims

against several of his accusers. kate, just seeing the sheer number of the women sitting together is jarring. to think that is a little more than half of the total number of women that have made accusations. i know you have been hearing from women you interviewed today. >> it is a day of emotion for them as you might imagine and different responses from different women but tears of joy. some people finding that their emotions are coming back up again today. linda cooper kirkpatrick said i thought this day would never come. i feel vindication. she said we have made history. we have torn down the veil of secrecy and fear. i think that is a recurring message i have heard from these women even when we talked to them in august and why they were speaking out in a group like

that was because they felt that was tearing down a wall. >> with so many women having come forward i guess the natural question would be do you expect more women to come forward? >> i don't know how many more but i will tell you when we were gathered together there was talk of other women that they knew. so of those 27 that i was with in that room they seemed to know another person. so they have heard of another person. i don't mean they knew them back then. they have facebook groups. i think social media is a big part of why we have seen such a flood of accusations in the last year because they found each other. they have connected online and that's spurring people to come forward. i would not be surprised if we see more women come forward. >> anybody remark the sense that but for that comedic sketch because women attempted to come forward before and the stories weren't picked up.

anybody made that remark to you? >> some of the women have said that. stephanie ga stephanie gosk and i were talking about it seems strange that this constant case sort of went away. why did we not pay more attention? why did women not come forward at that time? i think it is a combination of things. for some reason hanble burris using it as a joke in his routine and that went viral prompted other women to come forward. barbara bowman wrote a "washington post" op-ed and it was a domino effect after that. >> kate, i'm wondering whether or not women believe it because that lawsuit, the constant lawsuit was the fruit of this. are women commenting on the fact that she had to go civil because there weren't charges before? are women telling you they have a feeling about non pros cushion

in 2004? >> the women who were jane does back then, they felt very saddened when the case went away and was settled out of court. they weren't as upset about the lack of criminal charges. i think they understood the prosecutor felt he didn't have enough direct evidence. he did not have a lot of physical evident. when the civil case was settled out of court and then there was a gag order they were pretty upset by that because that is sort of what took it off the front pages and out of the media. >> you have done just some phenomenal, phenomenal reporting on this. thank you so much and happy new year to you. here is more from prosecutor kevin steele today about the charge against cosby. >> when you look at the case there is a number of aspects that are undisputed.

there is not a question in terms of pills being provided. there is not a question as to the occurrence of what went on of the digital penetration. we have gotten that from statements, from depositions. >> laura coach is a former assistant u.s. attorney. let's start where i sort of left off. the fact that there was no prosecution that a district attorney looked at this body of evidence at the same facts in 2004 and didn't bring charges, if you were the d.a. now, would that give you pause as to whether or not the charges are provable now or what has changed from then to now? >> what changed is the fact that there was a release of deposition testimony where mr. cosby admits that there was some penetration and there was a history of providing a substance

to put women at ease. you have the development of a case theory that was not necessarily present when the case was first looked at by the first d.a. you have a woman who now has the admission of the defendant in this case that wasn't present before. before everyone counts their chickens before they hatch tlrks is a lot of legal hurdles that need to be met. it is one thing to charge him with the crime. it is still going to be a hard time to prove it. now we are not just a few months or weeks out. we are over ten years away. almost 12 full years away. it's very difficult. we don't have physical evidence and all you have is the hope that the transcript will be admitted into testimony. >> i wonder what it means that the charge is so close to the expiration, the time to bring the charges, the statute of limitations. >> this was a case that had been a focal point of a very heated election.

there was a political ad being run by the current d.a. about the failure to bring the particular case. he is at the tail end of being able to bring it. i suspect several pretrial motions. it won't be successful because you do have the opportunity bring a case within that period of time. the far more contested motions are going to be whether or not the other alleged accusers are going to be able to testify and betrust this particular victim's own testimony at try trial. we have a court of public opinion that condemned bill cosby. in a court of law we can't know about those cases unless the court allows them to come in. >> and as you mentioned, laura, bill cosby testified under oath about the rape accusations in a deposition. that testimony was unsealed this summer by a judge. cosby admitted giving quaaludes

to women. he says i don't hear her say anything and i don't feel her say anything and so i continue sp go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. i am not stopped. when you hear that form of an admission which from the cosby team's point of view, does that admission as a prosecutor help you? >> it certainly does. consent is not a matter of semantics. you can't wade in the area of she didn't say no and didn't say yes so i'm going to proceed. somebody has to consent to that sort of action. it supports the argument that if she was rendered unable to defend herself, unable to consent and unable to say yes or no it does not bode well for him. you still have the issue of that

transcript which says he was talking about the quaaludes in the '70s there was not a direct connection between the quaaludes in the past and this particular incident. there is indication that he gave her a benadryl and there is inconsistency cht they have to bridge the gap. it is not an insurmountable hurdle and not a slam dunk just because he made that particular statement. there has to be consideration of other testimony and the prosecutor has the burden of proving that mr. cosby with this particular victim committed a particular sexual penetration against her will. >> thank you so much. really appreciate it. thank you. >> we have much more on bill cosby coming up next plus still ahead trump versus clinton. for the better part of 20 1r5 donald trump dominated the head lines and pack of republicans running for president. now he is trying to take down

the democratic front runner. who has more to lose in the fight for 2016. trump was one of many headliners who sat down with chris matthews in this wild year of politics. we bring you the key moments of "hardball" in 2015. larry david as bernie sanders. the donald and hillary as themselves. a look back at some of the best late night moments so far. let me finish with this new year's prospect of hope and change all to be decided at the ballot box. this is "hardball," place for politics. huh. introducing centrum vitamints. a brand new multivitamin you enjoy like a mint. with a full spectrum of essential nutrients... surprisingly smooth, refreshingly cool. i see you found the vitamints.

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we need a revolution. millions of people on the streets. we have to do something and we have to do it now! >> mrs. clinton i wanted to say my sister is gay. thank you for all you have done for gay marriage sflmpt kw you're welcome. >> it is great how long you have supported gay marriage sdmmpt where i could have supported it sooner. >> you did it pretty soon. >> could have been sooner. >> fair point. >> eh, not a fan of the banks. they trample on the middle class. they control washington and why do they chain their pens to the desks? who is trying to steal a pen from a bank? makes no sense. >> later we will show you some republicans including donald trump.

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we're back with more on the news that bill cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault. cosby denied the charge in the past. today's news caps a year of reversed fortunes. cosby was awarded the medal of freedom in 2002. his down fall began when a standup routine went viral. burris called cosby a hypocrit for scolding young african-americans in light of the rape allegations. soon a number of women came forward accusing cosby of sexual assault. those stories kept coming. cosby denied the allegations. i'm joined by eugene robinson and former pennsylvania governor both are msnbc political analysts. i have to start with you, governor. this is your state. you are a former prosecutor. i'm wondering what are your thoughts on the fact that it is coming so close to the end of the statute of limitations and

the fact that this really was litigated as part of the campaign for that office. >> that doesn't negate the fact that the charges are being brought within the statute and being brought timely and that jury has the right to decide mr. cosby's guilt or innocence. it is really debillicating for pennsylvania and for philadelphia and temple university where bill went because he was not only national icon but he did so many wonderful things to help people in this area. i remember when the legislature and i were locked in a battle over education. he did a press conference at his own time not with one dime urging the legislature to fund education properly because it was the only way out for our kids. we got coverage in every tv station in the state. did countless acts of kindness.

it was a body blow when this came out to the people who are here love bill cosby and think of him as one of our own. >> you know that issue of education was central to the cosby brand. remember it being bill cosby e.d.d. at the end and emphasizing education. what kind of a blow is it to that iconography that so many americans came to depend on in the 1980s? >> it is a huge blow and it means at best he ends with a mixed legacy. and, of course, we have to see how the court case ends and whether the charges are proven beyond a reasonable or not. this is a man who certainly was an icon in the african-american community. he was not uncontroversial especially in recent years with

the call for sort of personal responsibility and self reliance. sometimes he made the call in a way that rubs some people the wrong way. i don't think anyone can doubt in terms of his public acts his sincerity and his commitment to education and to the betterment of minority communities. it was there. at the same time you have apparently this other side of the man that is nothing like the public bill cosby. we are just going to have to get our heads around that. >> this summer president obama weighed in when he was asked if cosby should return the medal of freedom. >> i will say this, if you give a woman or a man for that matter without his or her knowledge a

drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape. in this country any civilized country should have no tolerance for rape. >> back to you quickly, is there greater rebuke than have the president of the united states evoke you as a symbol for rape. >> no greater rebuke, i think. it has to be a devastating thing at the same time sympathy for mr. cosby it is hard for me to call him anything other than mr. cosby. i met him a couple of times. sympathy has to be tempered with the fact that there are upwards of 50 women who made similar allegations about his behavior and now we have criminal charges. that just has to be factored into the mix.

>> and very quickly this trial, is there anyway that the defense will be able to try to move it. there is nowhere in pennsylvania or the world to get a change of venue. >> they won't be able to not at all. it will depend on whether the judge lets in the transcript or whether he lets prior testimony from other victims into court. without that it is just a naked allegation with no corroborating evidence. >> thank you so much. up next we turn to presidential politics as the donald sharpens his focus on hillary clinton and bill. this is "hardball," the place for politics. olay regenerist renews from within, plumping surface cells for a dramatic transformation without the need for fillers your concert tee might show your age... your skin never will. olay regenerist.

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thi work for the dogs twenty-four seven. i am the butler. these dogs shed like crazy. it's like being inside of a snow globe. it takes an awful lot of time to keep the house clean. i don't know what to do. sfx: (doorbell) what's this? swiffer sweeper and dusters? this is nice and easy boys. it really sticks to it. it fits in all of the tight spaces this is really great does that look familiar to you? i'm no longer the butler, i am just one of the guys. welcome back to "hardball." donald trump is now throwing the kitchen sink at hillary clinton. at a rally in south carolina trump lit into clinton with a series of crowd pleasing one liners which he followed up with a nasty personal attack.

trump began the rally with a declaration of war and rapid attack on secretary clinton. >> don't we view this as war? it's war. it's war. hillary is a disaster. hillary is controlled by her money. she has done a terrible job as secretary of state. i did have to mention her husband's situation. i love, love, love having a woman president. can't be her. she is horrible. she is horrible. hillary doesn't have a clue. you talk about low energy. she has lower energy than jeb bush. >> and then things got down right nasty. >> for the last week she has been hitting me really hard with the women card. i had to say that's enough. i'll tell you who doesn't like hillary are women. women don't like hillary. i see it all the time.

and always so theatrical. mr. trump said this and that. and i actually shouldn't do it. i just have to turn off the television. she gives me a headache. although i think last night i gave her a big headache. i can imagine those discussions. i talked about her husband and the abuse of women and the tremendous abuse. you look at it. it is tremendous abuse. and now today the television is going crazy and she gets up and makes a speech and doesn't mention anything about me with sexism or anything else. i wonder why. >> robert costa and ann gerren. robert, you first. the utility of attacking hillary clinton when donald trump has yet to win a primary or caucus. attacking her instead of attacking republican opponents, your thoughts? >> i stopped by trump tower and

met with trump advisers cht they are looking towards the general election. they know that targeting hillary clinton may be smart politics because it seems to rouse up the audience and get them animated about trump and makes him not have to pay attention to his own rivals. >> i want to play you vintage hillary clinton. the way she responds to attacks. this is what she told supporters during the heat of the battle when she ran for president back in 2007. >> when you are attacked you have to deck your opponent. and that is what i believe we are doing. >> you are out on the campaign trail with hillary clinton. is she decking donald trump or not responding to him at all? >> i think they really are ham strung when it comes to knowing what the right tone and right level of response is to donald trump. she has tried to deck him a couple of times by pointing out

that his policies on everything from immigration to syrian refugees are as she has said dangerous. she has accused him of being an isis recruiting tool. that is one way of trying to deck him. it hasn't really worked. they also tried to take the high road which is what you have seen over the last couple of days. i think it has yet to be seen whether that has long term utility. trump's response today shows it certainly didn't do short term damage. for hillary she has to decide whether she considers him and the sort of double edged sexism and woman problem allegations that he has been raising over the last few days are enough of a threat that she needs to address it head on. doing so would mean giving the bill clinton allegations of sexual exploitation more altitude than they have and it would be coming from her side

instead of from inside the campaign. >> one thing trump said is hillary is not popular with women. let's look at statistical information. hillary clinton as you can see donald trump is only ahead by about five points with men. hillary clinton is up 57% to 33% with women. is there concern within the trump camp that mhe might be turning off republican primary voters. >> they are trying to get republican women who may have reservations about secretary clinton excited about trump campaign. i have been to trump focus groups. when you see raem react to statements they seem to stand by him even when he says things that are controversial. tha they are more wary than most men. going after secretary clinton it

may be turning off general election women who are more independent but may be bringing in republican women who have concerns about secretary clinton and concerns about trump. >> very quickly, your boldest prediction for 2016. >> one bold prediction if this is contested you could see new candidate emerge at the convention. it is unlikely but possible. >> and ann? >> i think that donald trump will lose both iowa and new hampshire, maybe not by much setting up a mid term for the republican field where a chris christie or ted cruz has a real clear shot at winning in march. >> if he does that who will dare call him a loser? thank you very much. appreciate the predictions. thank you. coming up from president obama to donald trump, "hardball" is a must-stop

destination for the political news makers. we take a look at "hardball's" best interviews of 2015 next. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. please write down this toll-free number now. right now, in areas like yours, people are receiving this free information kit for guaranteed acceptance life insurance with a rate lock through the colonial penn program. if you're on a fixed income or concerned about rising prices, learn about affordable whole life insurance with a lifetime rate lock that guarantees your rate can never increase for any reason. if you did not receive your information, or if you misplaced it, call this number now and we'll rush it to you. your acceptance is guaranteed, with no health questions. please stand by to learn more. >> i'm alex trebek and the announcement you just heard is for a popular and affordable life insurance plan

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the man charged with buying two assault weapons used tht san bernardino attacks is facing new charges including conspiring with syed farook. he is accused of making a false statement related to the purchase of the guns and marriage fraud. he is being held without bond. he is due on court on january 6. back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." 2015 was an epic year in american politics, a year when big personalities dominated discussion. we did our best to give you a front row seat to madness and mayhem. here is a sampling of headliners who played "hardball." we have senator bernie sanders. we are joined by mike huckabee. author of the new book, a time for truth, reigniting the promise of america. we have him with us tonight. thank you so much. why is the republican party keep banging on the door of benghazi? >> trying to get us into a war under false pretenses yes or no? were they trying to get us into war under false pretense snz. >> i don't know. >> what is problem with calling a democrat a socialist? what is the difference?

tell me the difference between you and a socialist? is donald trump honest when he says barack obama is a legitimate president. they are throwing the kitchen sink at this trade agreement which will involve 11 nations and ourselves on the pacific rim. why are they saying these things? >> go chris. time for the biggest and wildest of the year. if you think 2015 was something wait until next year. i'm joined by the "hardball" round table. let's start with the ugly side of donald trump. >> is donald trump honest when he says that barack obama isn't a legitimate president. >> i didn't say you couldn't. >> you can't stop me. >> i can't. i should not tell you this but i do watch you a lot. i knew you were going to ask that question. i don't talk about that anymore.

i don't answer. if i answer that is all people want to talk about. >> you are going to have to answer it in a general election. >> catholics believe in confession you say you were wrong and move on. >> i don't want to answer the question. >> if donald trump is a nominee -- >> it absolutely hurts him. chris finishes up by saying he thinks it is donald trump's original sin. in the eyes of a lot it is really his original appeal when he got out there as a flame thrower on the right kind of made his name, set the groundwork for this candidacy and helped him. he has said many more outrageous things. if he wins the nomination and pivots to the general election he will have a lot of explaining to do starting with that. >> let's go to the guy who has nautforgotten that. president obama takes aim at

elizabeth warren. the president's biggest fight with his own party over a massive trade deal that progressives and unions absolutely despised. >> i love elizabeth. we are allies on a host of issues. she is wrong on this. i spent the last 6 1/2 years yanking this economy out of the worst recession since the great depression. everything i have done from the affordable care act to pushing to raise the minimum wage to making sure young people are able to go to college and get good job training to sick pay leave everything i do is focussed on how do we make sure the middle class is getting a fair deal. i would not be doing this trade deal if i did not think it was good for the middle class. and when you hear folks make a lot of suggestions about how bad this trade deal is when you dig into the facts they are wrong.

>> folks means elizabeth warren and her wing of the party which is giving the party the energy. does this trade deal wind up being a factor? >> it certainly has been a factor in the democratic primary. you hear bernie sanders talking about it all the time and then hillary clinton came out against the trade deal. what i would say about this is that president obama won big here. 2015 was a big year for him. we are not talking about elizabeth warren at the end of 2015. bernie sanders has become the leader of the progressive movement in the democratic party. this is something democrats are talking about. donald trump has been talking about it. it has been an issue in the republican primary. this has been a movement that barack obama has taken from the democrats really. >> this was the year that ted cruz road the trump wave to become a serious contender for the republican nomination. cruz launched his bear hug strategy on "hardball" and

refused to -- >> the day you announced your candidacy the trump said your birth place your father was working up there in canada could be a hurdle for your campaign. what do you think of the fact he says it is a hurdle. you are open about where you grew up and were born. >> i like donald trump. there are a lot of folks seem to be crawling all over themselves to smack donald trump. i think he is bold and brash. i think he has back bone. >> why does he say stuff about you? >> my mom is irish and italian. when i was born in calgary i was a citizen by birth. >> is ted cruz the real big winner of 2015? we talk a lot about trump. is he the big winner? >> iowa is looking like his to lose. the strategy of embracing trump with this bear hug as he told

chris seems to have been successful. he is one of the guys to beat going into 2016. he could become the front runner. >> i know he is popular. why hasn't the canada thing stuck to him? being born in canada? >> look, like john mccain was born in panama on a military base. it is a question when people have mingling doubts of somehow that they are unamerican or somehow that they are not -- they question their patriotism. nobody is questioning ted cruz's patriotism. >> john mccain was not a dual citizen. up next all eyes are on chicago mayor rahm emanuel. "hardball" is back after this. huh. introducing centrum vitamints.

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earlier we showed you some of the best late night moments for the democrats running for president. now for the republicans. late night hosts couldn't have dreamed that donald trump would be a front runner six months into his candidacy. occasionally the donald got in on the fun sdprmpt when part of the reason i'm here is that i know how to take a joke. me interviewing me, that's what i call a great idea. >> of course, it's a great idea.

we thought of it. >> he is in self-destructible. he declared he was running for president and followed it up with mexicans are rapists and john mccain is a coward. his campaign slogan might as well be trump 2016, you're stupid and ugly. >> doing a great job. i think the show got better by about 2 billion percent. >> how do you think it is going to go? >> really class. >> going to be really fantastic. it's going to be huge. >> we'll be right back. you do all this research on the perfect car.

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we will improve communication between officers and individuals to make these encounters less confrontational and more conversational. and we will double the number of tasers to 1,400 while also providing officers the training to use them properly. >> welcome back to "hardball" it comes in the wake of last weekend's fatal police shootings of two people. critics continue to call for the mayor's resignation, and the department of justice has launched a special investigation into how the chicago police department uses deadly force. the roundtable is back with us. ken vogel, i'm wondering at what point do rahm emanuel's local problems in chicago become a national story or a national problem for the democrats? >> yeah, i think they could. this is already an issue, police/civilian interaction, police brutality questions in the democratic primary. to the extent that rahm emanuel is already a national figure, very close to the clintons, has been relied upon as a bit of a

surrogate, i think we could see a diminishment of that, potentially, because of this. but i don't necessarily see his problems in chicago or rather he as a figurehead for this debate, as inflaming the issue anymore than it already is an issue in the democratic primary. >> and not to take rahm emanuel's side, but he tried to blow this up as a national problem and say, it's not just about chicago, but this is a bipartisan and national problem. if you look at the statistics in the year that is just about to end, police officers have killed nearly a thousand citizens, african-americans make up just 6% of the u.s. population. they account for 40% of the unarmed men shot to death by police this year. erin, i think it's fair to say, particularly the democrats, but also republicans did not expect to have to be litigating issues of policing and race in 2016. they can't avoid it, right? >> well, that's right. but this has been a bigger problem over the last few years, and we're talking about a number of supposed that have piled up, especially over the last couple of years, so, yes, both sides do

have to take a look. this is a bigger problem for rahm emanuel than it is for most other mayors because of what's going on in chicago. and rahm emanuel has not handled himself all that well. not only are people calling for his resignation now, but rahm emanuel's whole tenure in office has been troubled. so this is a bigger problem for rahm emanuel, especially as he tries to resuscitate this political career that's, you know, he's having some problems in chicago right now. it's not just this. it's the education issues, budget issues in chicago, several years ago, joy, in early 2013, people were talking about rahm emanuel starting to reach out to potential donors about a presidential bid in 2016 if hillary clinton didn't run. how far has he fallen since then? this is a bad story for rahm emanuel. >> very quickly, down ticket races suddenly have a big import for democrats. are you hearing out there among democratic politicians or political operatives that they are now concerned that you could start to see some down ticket instability because of these issues with d.a.s, et cetera? >> certainly, it's a problem

for, you know, if you're going to worry about these things, but honestly, the down-ballot races, i've heard much more concern about are the republican races. you have donald trump. that makes republicans, senatorial candidates much, much, much more concerned than anything than rahm emanuel is doing right now. yes, there is concern, but not as much. and i think with the steps rahm's taking, hopefully that will quiet the concern. >> thank you so much to the roundtable. erin mcpike, jay newton small, thank you very much. when we return, let me finish for the choice in 2016. up yourk plumpify your lashes with new plumpify mascara a ginormous lash lifting brush boosts lashes to 50 times the volume and lifts lashes up up and away... new plumpify mascara from easy breezy beautiful covergirl and try new trunaked shadows and liners

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let me finish tonight with a word on hope and change versus fear and loathing. tomorrow is new year's eve. it's a night when people around the world renew their faith in themselves and in the future by vowing to do better, be better, and to achieve big, if sometimes unrealistic goals in the coming year. this new year will bring us a presidential election, one in which we have no incumbent asking for another term. and so each of the parties will make their case for how they will renew the country's civic spirit. in america's history, some of our most successful politicians have run on a promise of positive change, igniting the country's sense of optimism and hope. it's true that going after people's deepest fears has also been the ticket to the white house for some, but the legacy of running or governing based on fear is to leave the country more cynical, more on edge, and

much harder to unite. when barack obama was elected, republicans had a choice. would they let the president have his due and govern on the hopeful platform he ran on, even if they disagreed with it, the way democrats did with reagan and george w. bush, or would they fight him until the last dog died and play to the fear and loathing of his most bitter and angry detractors, essentially promising total victory over the supposed interloper in the white house. the way the gingrich brigades played the clinton era. would they launch total war on obama, even at the risk of ripping the country apart, right down the seams of race and economic anxiety that were always there just below the surface. we all know what choice was made, and when they inevitably failed, time and again to deliver the defeat of this president, that anger and rage inevitably turned on them. and now, the coming election promises to be a brutal context, of who can best exploit the fear

and loathing and anxiety of the american people. not a very happy prospect for the new year. and that does it for me and "hardball." "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> we are here to announce today charges that have just been filed against william henry cosby. >> reporter: a perp walk for an american icon. >> mr. cosby, how do you feel, sir? >> reporter: bill cosby is charged with sexual assault. why now? will more charges follow? and why pennsylvania voters in a brutal local election may have finally sealed cosby's fate. >> kevin steel had the power to help bill cosby, but he sat on his hands. >> plus, the year in billionaires. >> i've got to take a shower again. my hair's all screwed up. >> how the world underestimated donald trump, how